Chorley's prospective MP Rob Loughenbury has commented on Labour plans for Chorley Council to take on responsibility for services provided by Lancashire County Council by becoming a Unitary Council.
He writes "Lancashire Labour has slammed plans by Chorley Labour to take Chorley out of Lancashire as 'financially unviable'. Chorley Labour was clearly expecting its big announcement to make a splash, but the Leader of Lancashire County Council was caught off-guard by the announcement and rubbished the plans as being unrealistic.
Not content with borrowing record sums of money, Chorley Labour now want to waste taxpayer cash on a referendum about reorganising local government, with all the risks and costs that will entail. Chorley residents are waiting for an explanation on how Labour's bureaucratic musical chairs will help create jobs, reduce council tax and improve services - they will be waiting a long time."
In a separate statement, the Department of Communities and Local Government has said “One of the first acts of the coalition Government was to scrap the last administration’s plans for top-down restructuring of local government. Such upheavals are expensive, disruptive and distract from the need to promote growth and tackle the deficit.
“There is already great potential for more locally-led joint working and sharing of public services, but these could be delivered immediately, without complex unitary restructuring or permission from Whitehall.
“However, the Government will not stand in the way of areas wanting to voluntarily adopt this approach so long as all affected authorities sign up for it and it results in greater efficiencies.
“But there does not seem to be that consensus across Lancashire at this point in time.”